Official 13-14 NHL Regular Season Thread

[batdad]

OMG Another one with this? Wow. How much did PRimis pay you to say that?

And along with them..the Penguins, Canucks and a host of other teams need to do it too. Oy vey.

[philou21]

Something suggests to me the Wings might need to sack their entire medical staff?

How are these injuries happening? In games, practice, or?

Don't open him a door to start about that again, pleaseeeeeee.

[CeeBee]

LOL nobodies got no stinkin injuries.... they're either faking it or resting up for the playoffs
J/K

[XenHL]

OMG Another one with this? Wow. How much did PRimis pay you to say that?

And along with them..the Penguins, Canucks and a host of other teams need to do it too. Oy vey.

Mrf if I had known he pays for that I would've talked to him first! But no I was asking that genuinely, especially the second question. The Wings *are* my #2 team after the Habs after all (Habs by birth, Wings by choice type of thing).

[Primis]

OMG Another one with this? Wow. How much did PRimis pay you to say that?

And along with them..the Penguins, Canucks and a host of other teams need to do it too. Oy vey.

Detroit is playing eleven (11) Griffins tonight against Toronto. There are more players that started the season as Griffins in Detroit right now (11) than Grand Rapids (10).

[batdad]

Gee and they won. Man the Wi vs are horribly run.

[jesterx7769]

No team in any NHL game ever...playoffs, reg season.. whatever. Has been 3 goals down with 5 min left and come back to win it. E..>V....E.....R

I was watching that game when it happened the other day, it was pretty crazy.

edit to avoid doubling: Ericsson now out with broken finger. Forget about the streak its amazing Wings aren't gunning for lottery.

[philou21]

Tim Bozon is awake and is lookin better by the days. He can move in his bed, try to eat on his own and he's trying to speak as well. Hope it goes in the right direction for him!

[batdad]

Yeah it is good news.

[philou21]

Ericsson now out with broken finger. Forget about the streak its amazing Wings aren't gunning for lottery.

It's so ridiculous that it looks awesome. They should be renamed Detroit Griffins Wings or something like that. I don't know if Grand Rapids was a runner-up for the Calder Cup this year but they certainly miss big pieces by now.

[Primis]

Ericsson now out with broken finger. Forget about the streak its amazing Wings aren't gunning for lottery.

It's so ridiculous that it looks awesome. They should be renamed Detroit Griffins Wings or something like that. I don't know if Grand Rapids was a runner-up for the Calder Cup this year but they certainly miss big pieces by now.

Grand Rapids was decently "loaded", they're still tied for top seed in the West. ECHL Toledo also looked to have a ton of talent but are easily the worst team in the East, may be worst in the entire league, though Las Vegas has an argument.

Grand Rapids has still been winning, but not quite at the clip they were. You remove the starting goalie and the top 2 lines entirely and that's pretty impressive to still be there.


At least Detroit isn't Toronto. After being thrown under the bus by his coach, Reimer has apparently asked for a trade. Whoops.

[philou21]

Someone have seen that kid signed for 1 day by the Sharks? He was sick for most of his life until now and he passed the day with the team, warmed up with them and was on the ice for the national anthem. He got a nice ovation before leaving the bench and he was crying of joy. Really touching and nice move by the Sharks.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=7102 ... L|NHL|home

[XenHL]

That's awesome. And very cool of the Sharks to do that for the kid. You could tell it meant the world to him.

[rocker87]

Interesting stuff, Niskanen played at least 20 games as RW for Pens, and at same time, they played with 4 AHL players on defense. I think they will have a record this season with that injury situation.

Also, Canucks are solid, I think they missed 12 players last game, but I'm not sure, don't care about them.

[batdad]

YEah wings Nucks and Pens are having a tough go.

But Canucks missing last night were

Daniel Sedin, Andrew Alberts, Ryan Kesler, and Mike Santorelli. Other than Alberts those are big losses.

Through the season at one point or other...they have missed Tanev, Edler, Burrows, Henrik Sedin, Booth, Hansen, Stanton, Richardson, Schroeder, BIeksa==all for at least 5 games. This does not include the 4-5 games Roberto missed before the Olympics.

And last night..the Nucks lost Tanev for the season.

All in, it has not been a good year for injuries. But Olympic years rarely are. Guys get more ice than they are used to...no matter what depth level they are in on a team, because of the tighter schedule. Just part of it.


BUT...injuries are never an excuse. The other team is always sore as well. Sure it might be that Crosby is playing, and Zetterberg or Sedin are not, but you can bet bottom dollar that Sid is playing in pain of some kind. This is not to diminish the Nucks player or Wings player mentioned as injuries are different than being hurt.

But....injuries are not an excuse. Guys just have to pick up the slack. Seems to be happening in Detroit, and definitely did in Pittsburgh.

[rocker87]

We would never know that thing about Crosby, but he will probably play his first 82 game season after season 2009-10 and that mean something. In last three seasons he played 99 regular games combined. If he's just hurt and can play with it, that's great, some kind of Lemiuex style.

About Pens, I remember that one game they were out of 6 of opening game defenders in their roster. That was the time when they had 7 or 8 wins in a row. Pretty impressive with AHL defensive line, with Maatta, yes. Vokoun is out for season, Dupuis can be ready for PO, but I doubt it. Maybe physically, but his game can't be good without any ice time this season. Letang is in awful situation, I wouldn't risk his health. Bennett and Glass are injury prone player, also, but at least they bring Stempniak and Goc here to cover some depth in forward. Good move I would say and not expensive.

[Primis]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Last night may have been the dumbest hockey game I have ever seen. There was nothing that made any sense in that PIT-DET game, right on down to the OTGW with 0.4 left. I'm watching the FSD replay on my Sling this morning still trying to figure out what happened. That was something like 2 months worth of weird things that would normally happen condensed all into on single game.

And apparently this morning I hear both players that should probably be suspended won't be, and I have no idea how or why. I might buy why Neal doesn't get anything (though he probably should), but have no idea how Legwand can possibly not be having a hearing for what he did.

[philou21]

Habs were playing against the Jackets and darn Ryan Johansen is becoming one hell of a player! He was everywhere on the ice.

[batdad]

JOhanson has always been amazing. Since he was a kid. Issue for him is just bulking up, and being able to take a beating. Now he can do that. I loved seeing him play in Port Moody as a kid, and then in Portland as a Junior. kid has massive skill. He was softer back then because was so skinny. But man he has massive amounts of skill and vision. his little Brother a dman with the Kelowna Rockets organization is just as interesting to watch grow and develop.

[philou21]

I know is beginning with the Jackets was clunky. I always thought they were going to destroy is development especially when they send him back in the AHL last year I think. It seems to have worked anyway. I still think they maybe tried to put him with the team too quickly though. As Keka..Kekeila...whatever said he gained alot of confidence this year.

[YZG]

Kekalainen

I kinda think they rushed him too, but thankfully, it didn't kill his development. He's a great player already at 21. The Jackets now have a very skilled young team and a good management. The Springfield Falcons are one of the top teams in the AHL. Future looks bright in Columbus (and it's about time...).

[philou21]

Future looks bright in Columbus (and it's about time...).

Yeah about time. The GM before Kekalainen was Howson right? Even if he got fired, him and his team sure started to draft well, just maybe a little too late.

[batdad]

Absolutely, they rushed him. Did the same thing to him they did to Brule. Only difference is that Brule was ready physically but not mentally. Johansen was not ready EITHER mentally or physically. The kid was fragile in junior and it showed big time the year before in the playoff loss to the Kootenay ICE. The ice just ran him down. Big time. Portland had a team that should have won everything (as they do every year lately), but the studs that year were fragile and other than Johansen and Niederreiter still quite young. One of the biggest upsets in junior hockey, and it was because Johansen was not a big strong man yet. He was still a little kid. His maturity was nowhere near even top level Junior and the Jackets bring him in the next season? Knew that would not go well. They are lucky he has not gone the year of Brule. came close to ruining two studs.

Please note, Brule has other issues he had to deal with too that caused issues with him being a strong NHLer. Family life was not so great. Ryan does not have that. (I do know the family as they live not too far from me, and the younger brother is the same age as my son)

[philou21]

Johansen was not ready EITHER mentally or physically.

Kekailanen mentionned that as well. He said he was intimidated by the regular NHL players and he was lacking confidence. I can tell you from what I've seen this is totally gone. His shape now is nothing to be ashamed of, he seems strong now. 6 feet 3 and 223 pounds.


Do you really think Brule could've been good at some point? I mean after all those years and new teams his confidence could've been back-up.

[philou21]

Have someone watched Bruins/Avs game thursday? Avs were trailing 0-2 with 5 minutes to go and Roy pulled out Varlamov at...5:00. Final score 2-0 for the Bruins. Good job by the Avs D who never got scored in 5 minutes with an empty net.